In exploring his story, Peterson does not follow a chronological timeline. Instead, he categorises these seemingly random events around what he calls, topo and kairos. Topo/place and kairos/time provide the framework in which Peterson details his formation as a pastor because his work as a pastor has to do with “God and souls”[1]. “God and souls” work is carried out within specific conditions, which Peterson describes as “place” and “time.”

Pastoral work is grounded in what Peterson calls “named places.” “Place” for Peterson, “Is not just any place, not just a location marked on a map, but on a topo, a topographic map with named mountains and rivers, identified wildflowers and forests.”[2] Pastoral work does not “levitate” above the “place” it is the pastor’s responsibility to embrace this place. As a result, methods of ministry cannot simply be replicated in different places because each place is unique.

For Peterson, time is equally important, “Not just time in general, abstracted to a geometric grid on a calendar or numbers on a clock face, but what the Greeks called Kairos, pregnancy time.”[3] Time in which the pastor is present to the work in which they are undertaking; time in which the Pastor is aware of and attentive to the work of God in their place. The formation of the pastoral vocation takes time which is often slowand painful time and the pastor can feel like they should be “getting on with it.” Instead, God uses time to form the vocational identity of the pastor.

It is easy, argues Peterson, for the pastor to lose sight of these two “grounding” realities: “Staying alert to these place and time conditions – this topo, this kairos – of my life as a pastor, turned out to be more demanding than I thought.”[4] Time spent becoming aware of his formation into the pastoral vocation and the places in which it took place were important to understanding how Peterson gives witness to the pastoral vocation.

The subtitle of The Pastor is, “Every Step and Arrival” a phrase drawn frompoet Denise Levertov who used it to describe her development as a poet. The subtitle provides the framework through which Peterson weaves his narrative understanding of his formation as a pastor: “every step along the way [I] was becoming a pastor.”[5] This is how these seemingly unrelated stories become the substance of Peterson’s formation.

The memoir is divided into stories about Peterson’s childhood, his early endeavours to understand his vocational calling, his time in New York City as a newlywed and budding academic, and his 29 years spent as pastor of Christ our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. Each chapter details another step in his arrival at an understanding of who he was as a pastor. What becomes clear over the course of the book is what Peterson recognises in the afterword: “In retrospect, I think that the two things that preserved the uniqueness of pastor for me where worship and family.”[6] It may well be argued that worship and family are the images and metaphors that Peterson uses to describe place and time.

The Badlands

The most formative of all Peterson’s experiences were the years he describes as the badlands: “I had no way of knowing it at the time, but I was entering into a time of my life that I later named the ‘badlands.’ And I had no way of knowing how long I would be there. It was going to last six years.”[7] It was during this experience that Peterson clarified what he considered faithful pastoral vocation. [8] The badlands gave birth to the pastoral vocation in Peterson.

The badlands experience began upon completion of his church’s first (and only) building program. “The three years was now completed. Christ our King Presbyterian church had been worshiping in its new sanctuary for six months. The membership was just under two hundred” and the church was financially viable.”[9] Not long after the sanctuary was built attendances began to drop. “Men and women who had been faithful in worship from the beginning disappeared for three or four Sundays at a time.”[10] Peterson found himself in a state of panic and concern. He doubted his calling and turned to his denominational leaders for advice. They instructed him to begin another building project to stem the tide. Peterson would not have a bar of it choosing instead to describe the experience as entering the belly of the whale.[11]

The badlands was an opportunity to reflect on what it meant to engage “a way of life, a vocation, in which I had to learn to submit to conditions, enter into conditions, embrace conditions, in which my competitive skills and achievements were virtually worthless.”[12] Once again time and place are important to the formation of the pastoral vocation.

During the first three years Peterson’s competitive streak had sustained him as he planted a new congregation. However, as he notes, “ecstasy doesn’t last.”[13] Peterson had before him a choice. He could return to his congregation as a manager of religious consumers as a means of once again gaining momentum and building the size of the church, or he could, as he describes, enter the conditions and engage with the pastoral vocation on its terms. For Peterson this meant laying aside his competitiveness for contemplation.

Out of this badlands experience Peterson developed a framework within which he defined the pastoral vocation. This framework is repeated in many of his writings about the pastoral vocation but is best described as his “trigonometry of ministry.”[14] In his book, Under the Unpredictable Plant[15] he explains it this way:

I want to study God’s word long and carefully so that when I stand before you and preach and teach I will be accurate. I want to pray, slowly and lovingly, so that my relationship with God will be inward and honest. And I want to be with you, often and leisurely, so that we can recognise each other as close companions on the way of the cross and available for counsel and encouragement to one another.[16]

These three acts of prayer, Scripture and what he calls spiritual direction are the foundation of Peterson’s pastoral ascetic. These acts define the spiritual ascetic of the pastoral vocation. While the visible aspects of ministry include teaching, administration and pastoral care, these acts are unseen by most and go unrecognised by many.

What is clear from Peterson’s memoir is that he was not provided a suitable framework for the pastoral vocation by his pastors or his seminary training. Rather, as the book reflects, Peterson had been undertaking his formation along the way leading to his conclusion that for him every step was an arrival at who he was as a pastor. What the badlands did was rescue Peterson from a careerist mindset and set him on a path to understanding the pastoral vocation. In light of this, this paper will now explore the ways in which Peterson has defined the pastoral vocation.

About Mark Stevens

Mark is pastor of the Happy Valley Church of Christ in Adelaide, South Australia. He holds a Master of Ministry from Tabor College Adelaide. The Parson's Patch is a collection of musings on the pastoral vocation, coffee (humour), gardening and other topics of interest! Mark reviews books for Zondervan, IVP, Kregel Academic and Logos Bible Software.

Endorsement

"I am happy to commend Mark Stevens' fine blog which provides resources and discussion on a panoply of things crucial to Christian ministry in the 21rst century. But quite apart from the resources, Mark evinces a mind for what really matters when it comes to the serious study of God's Word--- highly recommended. "